Here we have what one of the last of the big boys, a super clean, 19,000-mile Cadillac Eldorado from 1978, the year before Cadillac shrink-rayed it. This one here for sale on Marketplace less than an hour southeast of The Old Triple Wide outside Cleveland, Ohio. Asking price is $19,000. Figure a dollar for every mile it's got on it or about 26-cents per pound. Such a deal.
Poster of the ad claims to be the third owner of this brute and it was in storage for a number of years before they bought it. Sounds like an estate sale or "barn find" to me and they're trying to make some bucks on it. Nothing wrong with that. Unless you're the buyer and you find out afterwards you overpaid for it. Prices on these it what appear to be solid shape pegs this priced fairly. Poster of the ad says it's mostly original and that scares me to some degree.
Thing is, who'd buy this thing? I'm as "car guy" as they get and a Cadillac man too but even I'd chafe at this thing. It's just too damn big. What's more, I'm past the age of wanting something nostalgic and forgiving its sins. And this car has a lot of sins. It'll handle poorly even if the suspension is up to snuff, be oh-so-difficult to maneuver and families in Kia crossovers will blow by you like you're standing still. Did I mention single-digit gas mileage? It'll run you over a hundred bucks to fill it up.
To that end, I don't get these cars anymore. I did back in the day, mind you but now I like to have my oldies or weekenders do more for me than just look good. And don't get me wrong, this old boat looks great. I love the color combo. Lovely. That GM grey paint has a tendency to oxidize and turn white, no word if this is a repaint or not. The bumper filler panels are pristine too.
Under the hood this one has Cadillac's new-for-1977, 425-cubic inch V-8. Making all of 180-net horsepower, again, you're not going anywhere fast in this thing. It'll crank out 320 foot-pounds of torque and with a 2.73:1 drive ratio, it'll pull off the line decently. Thing is that this porker will tilt the scales on the dark side of two-and-a-half tons. Move over, gramps.
Cadillac's first came out with an Eldorado in 1953 to help celebrate their 50th anniversary. More or less a fancied Coupe deVille, in 1967, Cadillac made the Eldorado front-wheel-drive sharing its trick "United Power Plant" with the Oldsmobile Toronado. It was redesigned in 1971, our '78 here is part of that 1971 rebooting. From 1967 to 1970, Cadillac heralded the Eldorado as being a sports-tourer of sorts, the 1971 to 1978 were more like fluffy parade floats.
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